


Pay It Gladly

by QuickSilverFox3



Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: All tags don't apply to all drabbles, Canon-Typical Violence, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, F/F, Gen, Human Sacrifice, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Missing Scene, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Stopping the mission to flirt is totally valid, Suicidal Thoughts, Survivor Guilt, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickSilverFox3/pseuds/QuickSilverFox3
Summary: Joe glared slightly up at her, straining his fingertips to brush against Nicky’s own. The other man glanced towards him, cold fear filling him when he saw the slow trickle of blood curl down Joe’s temple, the small wound refusing to heal.[No 9. FOR THE GREATER GOOD “Take Me Instead” | “Run!” | Ritual Sacrifice]
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Booker | Sebastien le Livre, Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nile Freeman, Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Booker | Sebastian le Livre & James Copley, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947016
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Pay It Gladly

Andy rolled her shoulders as the weight of the bulletproof vest hit the floor, tipping her face so the rain rolled down her skin. She could feel the other’s eyes upon her, as unchanging as ever while she aged. 

“ _ It’s been an honour to fight at your side _ ,” she whispered, tapping her fist to her chest in a salute, knowing they would recognise the action even if none could speak her mother tongue.

“You don’t—” Booker began, fingers flying over the keyboard, searching for another way, anything.

“I do.” Andy began to walk, head held high, to her final death.

* * *

“I’ll go.”

Eyes turned to Booker, the argument shattered by a single sentence. He shifted, shoulders hunching, but his eyes were hard.

“They aren’t going to stop chasing us until they get what they want. So I’ll go.”

“Booker—”

“It’s my fault.” He laughed hoarsely, no amusement in the sound. “I exposed us to Merrick, I betrayed you all. This is my fault.”

He stood, hands resting on the table to try and hide their shaking, meeting each of their gazes in turn, face pale but determined. “I’m going to make this right, so you can all be free again.”

* * *

“Sacrifice is a good look on you.” 

Quynh pulled back her hood just enough to wink at Andy, her face made almost unrecognisable beneath the smear of blood across her cheeks. 

“Anything is a good look on me,” Andy retorted, just to see Quynh’s face split almost in half with a grin, biting her lip as the chanting began again.

Quynh stood up, and began to move away before Andy caught her hand, straining against her bonds.

“Promise that you’ll be with me when I wake up,” she whispered.

Quyhn squeezed her wrist, tapping on her skin three times. “Always.”

* * *

“I only need one of you.” The doctor’s shoes clicked on the tiles as she paced, up and down, staring at them like animals lined up to slaughter.

Joe glared slightly up at her, straining his fingertips to brush against Nicky’s own. The other man glanced towards him, cold fear filling him when he saw the slow trickle of blood curl down Joe’s temple, the small wound refusing to heal. 

“Take me,” Nicky said, Joe’s desperate shout of denial almost distracting the doctor, but her gaze was set.

“Done.” Her grin was reminiscent of a shark. “Take the others away.”

* * *

“No!” Andy screamed until she thought her throat would tear, feet scrabbling against the freezing stone. Blood ran freely down her wrists as she pulled futility against the chains.

“Andy!” Quynh screamed, struggling against the guards that held her, dragging her away further with every painful moment that passed.

“Take me instead!” Andy yelled at the uncaring priests. “Please take me!”

The doors slamming closed felt like a death knell, cutting off her last sight of Quynh, tears streaming down her face, and Andy collapsed to the ground. Her heart felt like it had been cut out of her chest.

* * *

“Let me die,” Quynh whispered, feeling the words bubble in the seawater as she began to drown once again. Reviving was painful, a reflexive jerk causing her hands to slam against the lid, cutting her palms open with a dull ache. 

“Let. Me. Die,” she snarled, emptying her lungs to die again and again and again.

Lyon’s death had happened upon him so suddenly that she barely realised he had fallen in the midst of battle, her blades swinging through opponents until she heard Andy scream. She’d been in this coffin for far longer, and yet she was still here.

* * *

“Run!”

That was all the warning Nile received, and all the warning she needed. She grabbed Andy’s arm, and pulled the other woman in front of her as Booker ignited the bomb. 

Shrapnel flew through her back, weak legs failing her, dying and reviving in a matter of seconds before she even hit the ground.

“Come on then.” Andy’s grin was wild, teeth bared and bloody and Nile grinned back, feeling her blood rise. She spat out a lump of shrapnel, feeling it slice through her cheek and followed Andy’s lead, running through the ruined corridors, laughing with wild exhilaration.

* * *

The water lapped gently at their waists as they crept through the tunnels, head lamps reflecting back from the stone walls.

“Copley got more information for us?” Joe whispered, his voice echoing in countless whispers back at them.

“Nothing,” Booker replied, “Just that it’s an escaped animal, very dangerous.”

“I feel like I’m in a comic,” Nile hissed, Nicky chuckling at her words, light shaking as he shook his head.

Andy froze, the rest following suit. “Fuck,” she breathed, carefully raising a hand to signal a retreat. 

A distant splash, then a roar echoed. 

“Run!” Andy yelled, all subtly forgotten.

* * *

Joe pulled Nicky closer to him, absorbed in the sensation of his body so close to him, the press of Nicky’s nails against his scalp, the slight twinge of pain as Nicky nipped at his lip. 

“How could I have been so lucky to have found you?” Joe whispered, moving his hands from mapping the curve of Nicky’s spine over his shirt, to cup his face. Nicky’s eyes were blown wide, pupil consuming the grey.

“We are on a mission,” Booker chimed in over the earpiece, voice flat and unimpressed.

Nicky laughed, taking Joe’s hand before breaking into a run.

* * *

“For the greater good?” Booker murmured, carefully studying the plan Copley had drawn up for him. 

“Think about it,” Copley’s voice was reverent, a fervour Booker had normally only heard in religious zealots. “No more disease, no more suffering, all gone. It could propel technological advancement forward years.”

“And they will look at making us able to die?” Booker breathed, Copley nodding frantically before he had even finished the sentence. 

“Anything you want. They’ll just need some samples from all of you, for repeatability.”

A final peaceful death. What bliss.

“I’ll do it.” Booker reached across and shook his hand.

**Author's Note:**

> [ My Tumblr!](https://inkformyblood.tumblr.com) Requests are always welcome!


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